


carve a name

by FuhkinIero



Series: aspiring fires [1]
Category: Batman - All Media Types, Red Hood: Lost Days
Genre: BAMF Jason Todd, Competence Kink, Dom/sub Undertones, Fluff and Smut, Jason Todd is a Batfamily Member, M/M, Porn with Feelings, Praise Kink, Protective Dick Grayson, The inherent eroticism of combat
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-12
Updated: 2020-12-10
Packaged: 2021-03-08 01:07:42
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 5
Words: 8,135
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26627230
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FuhkinIero/pseuds/FuhkinIero
Summary: So maybe Jason should be more worried about Deathstroke's fixation on him, but it was more flattering than anything else. Besides, he had a whole family to worry for him.
Relationships: Jason Todd & Everyone, Jason Todd/Slade Wilson
Series: aspiring fires [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2148567
Comments: 82
Kudos: 659





	1. seems so strange

**Author's Note:**

> this started as a joke but i ended up actually liking this ship so here’s this i guess

Deathstroke was _not_ part of the plan. None of them even knew Slade was in Gotham, at least as far as Jason knew. Things with Bruce were better than they’d been in years, but he wouldn’t hold it past him to hold back info. As it was, he got one hell of a shock when he was suddenly ambushed on a rooftop while waiting for Dick to show up for a bust.

He didn’t get the chance to say more than “Fuck!” before Slade went after him. Unlike his siblings, he hadn’t really fought Deathstroke before, and knowing what someone’s style was and actually defending against it were two very different things. Still, Jason didn’t train this hard for nothing, so he tried not to let any mild intimidation get in the way of fighting for his fucking life. 

Neither of them were really getting any hits in, the ones that landed going to leave some serious bruising, and he couldn’t help enjoy the challenge a bit. He couldn’t get a read on the guy with his mask on, hopefully something mutual, but it wasn’t difficult to figure out that the enjoyment was mutual. That probably said something about who Jason was as a person, but who the fuck had time to examine any potential character flaws when this kind of insane shit happened way too often 

After blocking two hits that definitely would have broken his ribs, Jason saw a slight opening and didn’t hesitate to take advantage of it. He roughly shoved Slade into the wall, using all of his strength to pin his hands as hard as he could. Slade made a slightly surprised sound, and quickly used his unfairly enhanced strength to flip them so Jason was the one pressed against the wall.

The move was enough to send a shiver down his spine, and he immediately stopped fighting back. Weirdly, it didn’t seem like Slade was trying to kill him anymore either, though he didn’t let up at all.

“You’re pretty skilled, kid,” Slade said, surprising him with how warm and appreciative he sounded. He really wished he could see the guy’s face, because he really wanted to see the expression that matched that tone. 

“Well I definitely try,” he responded roughly, and didn’t bother to do more than test Slade’s grip, though he knew it was a lost cause. “Gonna let me go, old man?” he asked, and unfortunately wasn’t resistant when Slade made a considering sound and leaned in close. Maybe he really did need to assess his character flaws, because being attracted to people and things that were extremely dangerous was probably going to get him killed again one day.

“I don’t know, I like how you look like this,” he purred lowly with an audible smirk, and Jason knew Slade noticed his breath hitching a bit. It was surprising, and it definitely did things to his ego. He was also probably being painfully obvious about how very into it he was. Before he could respond, Dick appeared and shoved Deathstroke away hard enough for him to let go, and he disappeared off the rooftop. They both knew pursuing him was a lost cause.

Dick turned to him with a very concerned look. “Are you okay? Did he just come onto you?”

Jason shrugged and straightened back up, tugging his leather jacket down a bit as he caught his breath. “What can I say, I’m irresistible,” he quipped, glad that his brother didn’t seem to notice the fact that he was pretty damn receptive to the comments. Unfortunately, Dick was still giving him his annoying mother hen look, so he quickly got things back on track. “Let’s get this bust over with, then worry about what Deathstroke is doing in Gotham,” he said, both of them aware that Jason was never going to answer any of Dicks questions. 

“Alright,” Dick said with a sigh after a tense moment. “Lead the way.”


	2. in and out of style

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> slade makes another appearance and jason continues to be a hyper-competent dumbass

For all that he took the weird almost flirting on the roof the other day in stride, he didn’t expect anything to come of it. Sometimes villains just had moments like that, at least with him. Black Mask had said a couple uncomfortably flattering things to him the last time they’d had a confrontation, Ra’s occasionally creeped on him, and firefly once called him hot which was strange. What surprised him was when Deathstroke showed up while they were all fighting ninjas only a week after their first fight. 

They didn’t know why Ra’s was going after them, but the large number of assassins he sent were unfortunately not amateurs, and Jason even had to blow up his hood for the hundredth time. He ended up sword fighting with a few on the ground floor, Red Robin across the room and Batman and Robin on the second floor, when suddenly the ones surrounding him were all dead and he was facing a maskless Slade. He immediately got in a defensive position, noting the guy’s growing smile. He heard Tim frantically warning the others that Deathstroke was present, then Slade was attacking. 

Jason had been extensively trained with swords, maybe even more than with guns given the fact that Talia was the one in charge of sending him to trainers, and didn’t think he was exaggerating when he thought that he was better than the rest of the bats. That didn’t mean he was a match with fucking Deathstroke. Putting everything else out of his mind, he focused all his attention on the swordfight. He didn’t have the mental capacity to even quip like he’d usually do, instead retreating into that white noise headspace where nothing mattered except his opponent and his own skills.

Jason met every blow almost effortlessly, easily shifting from defensive to offensive and back again, striking without even thinking about it. Slade started pushing him harder, almost testing his skills and knowledge with how he moved from different forms, Jason moving with him and putting more effort into his style. When his opponent started pulling out tricks, he started doing the same, this time shifting into his All-Caste training. They danced around the room, both matching each other blow for blow despite the unfamiliar fighting styles. 

It was only when Jason started feeling a bit tired that the match ended, Slade taking advantage of the slight wavering to end it, disarming him and stopping with his sword leveled at his throat. Like a switch had been flipped, all of the background sound and movement in his peripherals kicked in again, and he could hear the others trying to talk to him. He sucked in a startled breath, blinked rapidly, and stared at Slade, almost dazed with the sudden shift in headspace. The guy was grinning sharply, sending a shiver down his spine, and pressed the tip of his sword under his chin making him look up and bare his neck more. He became suddenly more aware that Deathstroke was taller than him, though he didn’t know why that was suddenly incredibly important information.

“You’re very good, boy,” Slade complimented, and Jason swallowed roughly, seeing him track the movement. He hummed, and there was probably something very wrong with Jason that this whole thing was really doing it for him, even the imminent threat to his life, the adrenaline of being at someone's complete mercy was a bit addicting, the compliments adding to the feeling immensely. “Not many people could last as long as you against me,” he added, contributing even more to the heat simmering in his chest and making his breath hitch audibly. Slade tilted his head and eyed him for a second. “Yeah, I’ll be seeing you soon,” he drawled, then he disappeared out the door, leaving Jason a bit in shock and slightly aroused with his sword at his feet. 

It took him a minute to completely get his bearings, then jumped in to help Tim with the last of his ninjas. A few seconds later, apparently finished clearing the second floor, Bruce dropped in front of him, hovering in that ‘I’m concerned’ way instead of his attempt at intimidation. “I’m alright,” Jason confirmed, taking a deep breath and picking up his newly acquired sword. 

“Holy shit, Hood!” Tim said with wide eyes. “That was so unbelievably cool.” He glanced at a very silent Damian and saw that he also seemed reluctantly impressed.

Jason smirked a bit. “Thanks, Replacement. Do we know  _ why _ Slade was here?” he asked, because he didn’t really think Ra’s would have hired him. If he did, this was much bigger than they thought it was. Ra’s hiring Deathstroke didn’t bode well for anyone. 

Bruce frowned and shook his head, and that was it until they got back to the cave where Dick was practically vibrating. The anxious look on his face was never a good sign, especially when it was aimed at Jason. Thankfully, he got to the point fairly quickly. “I think Deathstroke is sorta obsessed with you,” he said, making all of them stare at him silently. 

“Come again?”

Dick made a frustrated noise and turned back to the computer and pulled up some video files from Babs. “Okay, first was that fight on the roof last week where he kind of hit on you,” he started, and Jason tried to ignore everyone’s eyes on him again when he played the clip. It didn’t have audio, thank God, and he was pretty glad the end of the fight the video caught made him look pretty impressive. They watched as Jason pinned him momentarily before the position was switched, and  _ yeah, _ it definitely looked like Slade was very interested. He hoped they didn’t notice how okay with it he was. 

“Okay, so how does this make you think he’s obsessed with me? People hit on us all the time, it doesn’t mean anything.”

“There’s more,” Oracle said, and on the screen Babs also looked a bit worried. She pulled up a couple more pictures and videos where it looked like Deathstroke might have been following him even before last week. One showed him watching him during their last big group mission when he’d spent the night camped out on a roof close by as their nonlethal sniper. Apparently he had stayed for the entire couple hours. “Then, there’s tonight. I don’t think he was working with Ra’s. I think he showed up just to fight you.” 

Well. That was… flattering as hell. “Huh. Cool,” he finally said, and got many confused and exasperated looks in return. 

“The most dangerous mercenary in the world has fixated on you and that’s all you have to say? Huh, cool?” Tim asked, others echoing the sentiment. 

He shrugged. “He obviously doesn’t want me dead or he would have killed me already. Maybe he just likes the challenge.”

“If we hadn’t just seen you match Deathstroke in a swordfight, I’d think you were full of yourself,” Dick said with an annoyed sigh, though he looked a bit amused. 

“Yeah, I’m as surprised as you are. I thought my skills were getting rusty at this point,” he confessed, feelin pretty damn good about the whole thing. Having his skills recognized and apparently appreciated by not only just his family, but by one of the most proficient fighters alive was an incredibly good feeling. 

The thing was, Jason wasn’t an idiot. He knew how dangerous Deathstroke was, and none of them knew exactly what he wanted. Being the focus of someone so deadly usually didn’t end well, but this… this was something else. It didn’t mean he wasn’t going to be cautious, but Slade wasn’t stalking him to kill him, and from their previous interactions, he had an idea of why Slade was focused on him. It was sort of insane and absurd, and seemed to come out of nowhere, but the apparent attraction wasn’t one sided, and he sort of wanted to see where this thing could go. He wasn’t about to go hunt down Slade, but he wasn’t going to do any preventative measures like the rest of the Bats probably wanted. Hell, if they had a choice in the matter they’d probably lock him in the manor until Deathstroke lost interest. 

“Jason,” Bruce said, taking off the cowl and looking at him with tired eyes. It said a lot about the progress they’d made that Jason didn’t try to get out of the cave as fast as he could to avoid any awkward conversations. Their complicated history meant that their talks still ended with shouting matches occasionally, and their different beliefs chafed both of them sometimes, but they were slowly starting to become a family again. Jason could tell that this thing with Slade might test all of that. “Anything involving Slade never ends well. We just want you to be safe.”

The sentiment looked like it was shared with the rest of the bats, aside from Damian who looked slightly uncomfortable with the show of feelings from Bruce. Dick was usually the one to say those sort of things, but coming from Bruce… it meant more than he’d ever admit. 

“Yeah, I’ll be careful,” Jason said after a moment, avoiding eye contact. “I’ll crash at one of the safe houses with surveillance, but I don’t want any of you tailing me, okay?” Looking slightly surprised at the willing compromise, Bruce nodded, though Jason noticed Dick frowning. “I’m serious, Dick. No tails or I go off the grid.”

After getting a slightly annoyed nod from his brother, Jason decided the atmosphere was way too tense and he’d reached his limit. With a lazy salute in the others’ direction, he fled out of the cave on his motorcycle until he reached one of the Bats’ safe houses. Jason flipped off one of the cameras before crashing onto the semi comfortable bed. Slade was future Jason’s problem. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> wholesome batfam is my favorite batfam


	3. into my heart again

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There's a close call, and maybe Slade cares more for Jason than simple attraction.

Jason cursed in seven different languages as he realized he was all out of bullets. _“Hang on, we’re six minutes out,”_ Nightwing told him, which might have been comforting if the bomb across the room wasn’t counting down from three minutes. Usually that wouldn’t be much of an issue; he could build and diffuse bombs half asleep, but he was currently bleeding out with over twenty guys in the way. Even his backup exit was heavily guarded, which was impressive for anyone’s henchmen these days. 

“Any chance you could half that?” he asked through his teeth. “Cause I gotta say, going out with a bang is overrated.” He couldn’t tell who it was, but someone made a wounded noise, and no one told him off for making death jokes. They all knew how close this was going to be. His thigh and his side were still steadily bleeding, and it was getting harder to focus and keep pressure on the bullet wounds. If one of those henchmen rounded the corner, he’d be more fucked than he already was. 

_“We’re going as fast as we can,”_ Tim said, sounding uncharacteristically frantic. It wasn’t a good sign, and he gave up on hoping the bats were going to make it in time.

Jason took a shaky breath and tried to keep his composure. “It’s alright. I’ll try not to come back as a zombie this time,” Jason said after a minute, ignoring Dick saying a sad ‘ _Little Wing.’_ He chanced poking his head over the crates he was hiding behind and almost got his head shot off by multiple shooters. It wasn’t looking that great. Of course, just as he had resigned himself to his own death again, help came from a surprising source. 

Shots fired at the men, these ones with apparent deadly accuracy as the return fire slowly stopped as the body of the last guy fell. _“What was that?”_ Tim asked, sounding concerned. 

“I have no-” he paused, because a familiar masked person suddenly dropped down in front of him. “What the fuck? The hell are you doing here?” he asked, sounding bewildered even to himself. He ignored everyone asking who he was talking to, using most of his energy to stay conscious and hope he wasn’t just imagining this. 

“Ask me questions after we get out of here,” Slade responded gruffly and helped him stand. Without another word, he draped Jason’s arm around him and mostly dragged him out of the warehouse, apparently just in time because they managed to get far enough away for it to only feel like a light punch when the bomb went off and destroyed everything. 

The relief hit him hard and he leaned into Slade, glad that he was enhanced and could actually hold him up. He didn’t argue when the mercenary kept dragging him further until he forced him into the passenger seat of a sleek black car. Once he was completely settled he focused on his frantic family in his ear still freaking the fuck out. It might have been funny if it weren’t giving him some type of feelings. “‘M fine, guys, stop yelling at me,” he told them breathlessly, slurring a bit too much for his liking. 

Many relieved sounds met his comment, and he felt a bit guilty about not immediately telling them he was okay. _“Don’t do that, Hood!”_ Nightwing exclaimed half angrily. _“Who got you out of there? Where are you?”_ Speak of the Devil, Slade got into the driver's seat sans mask and shoved a huge first aid kit onto his lap before he started driving away at breakneck speeds. 

“I’m not dead again, everyone can relax,” he started, ignoring Slade’s sharp look in favor of digging around in the kit for gauze. The ‘I’m the Robin that died’ talk could be saved for later. “Here’s the thing though, I don’ actually know where I’m goin, so I guess I’ll just swing by the cave tomorrow or somethin.”

Before anyone could repeat the other question, Oracle spoke up. _“He got saved by Deathstroke,”_ she deadpanned, and there was a pause where no one seemed to know what to say about that. 

“Well, as fun as this very awkward conversation is going, I’m gonna have to go dark now,” he announced, smirking weakly a bit at all of their sudden objections. “Later, motherfuckers,” he said before turning off his comms completely and taking his hood off. “Thanks for the save,” he said as he tore the hole in his pants enough for him to get to the bullet wound. This one thankfully had an exit wound, but his side wasn’t as lucky. He wrapped his leg enough for it to no longer be an immediate worry and started working on the same for his other wound. He was damn lucky he had the experience to function with the amount of blood he had lost, because as much as he appreciated Slade saving his ass, he still didn’t trust him enough to be okay with being unconscious in his presence. 

Slade shrugged. “I was in the neighborhood. Where were the other bats?”

“Three minutes out when the warehouse blew,” he answered, shoving down the bitter thoughts about how they would’ve been too late, just like last time. It wasn’t their fault, and they tried their hardest. Sometimes shit just went wrong, too often when the universe seemed to have a personal grudge against you. “Fuck, why is it always a warehouse,” he mumbled, fighting back the memories that kept creeping into his thoughts. Having flashbacks in front of an assassin was not exactly what he needed at the moment. Thankfully, Slade refrained from commenting, but he looked one second away from breaking the steering wheel with how hard he was gripping it.

A few minutes later, they parked in an underground parking garage and Slade helped him out of the car, doing most of the work while he tried to focus on maintaining consciousness. If it were anyone else, Jason might hate the fact that he was essentially being dragged around, but he was already very aware that resistance was futile and he would likely not be able to make it more than ten feet on his own. They painfully made it up to the fifth floor apartment that was Slade’s upscale safehouse, and he took a relieved breath now that he was actually safe, or as safe as one could be with an extremely competent assassin as a nurse.

Slade silently helped him shed his layers of armor and clothing until he was just in his boxers, making him sit on the edge of the bed that Slade apparently didn’t give a shit about it being too nice to get bloodstained. Blood was still steadily leaking through the bandages, and he didn’t flinch while Slade was stitching his leg, knowing the worst part was yet to come. When the guy started digging the bullet out of his side, he stayed perfectly still but did swear a fuckton in Russian, which was the best language to curse in. 

“Russian, huh?” Slade asked conversationally as he finally pulled out the bullet and started working on stitching up the wound. 

“Yeah, I trained with knives there for a bit,” he responded, thinking back to how shitty that was. 

“Sounds fun.”

Jason huffed a laugh. “It was freezing and my hands were scarred to hell once I was finished,” he responded and felt a bit satisfied when he saw Slade smile, though it went away after a couple seconds.

“While we’re talking about your past, wanna tell me why you used the word ‘again’ after saying you weren’t dead?” Oof, there it was, the big question. It wasn’t that he thought the guy would tell people that he was formerly Robin, but it still made him nervous, though he was honestly surprised the guy didn’t already know. Jason didn’t like talking about it on a good day, and it was definitely _not_ a good day. 

Still… for some reason he felt like actually answering the question. “I died,” he finally said, and saw Slade frown in his peripherals. For some reason, this was easier keeping his eyes away from the other man. “Joker beat the hell out of me with a crowbar then blew me up. I was in the ground for a few months before I woke up and dug my way out,” he elaborated, and knew it wasn’t hard to connect the dots to the Robin that got murdered. It was quiet for long enough for him to get antsy, and he was a bit surprised when he looked over to see a thunderous expression on Slade’s face. 

“And that fucker is _still alive?_ ” he asked with more heat than expected, making Jason grimace.

“Why do you think I have such a hard time getting along with Batman?” he asked, seeing Slade’s eye flash with something unrecognizable as he finished the stitch and leaned back. “They won’t kill him, and if _I_ kill him, it’ll go right back to him trying to run me out of Gotham.” Jason looked away again. As infuriating as that still was, and as much as it still tormented him, he knew it was worth it not to kill Joker. Being a part of the family was more important than feeling safe or getting revenge, not that he’d ever say that out loud. “I've made my peace with it.”

“No you haven’t,” Slade replied immediately, reaching up to guide Jason’s head back over to his direction with more care than expected from Deathstroke the Terminator. 

Jason smirked hollowly, leaning into the hand still cupping his jaw. “No, I haven’t,” Jason confirmed quietly. The smirk died on his lips when Slade slowly moved his thumb to brush his bottom lip. Jason made a small sound before he could stop himself and Slade’s gaze immediately snapped back up to his eyes. The intensity in his expression was hypnotic, and he found himself holding his breath as Slade slowly leaned in, eliciting a full body shiver when he brushed their lips together. Jason’s entire senses were overwhelmed with _Slade_ , hyper aware of how close they were and the hand still gentle on his jaw, the smell of gunpowder, steel, and something completely unique and intoxicating were all dizzying in a way that was completely unrelated to the blood loss. Jason’s eyelids fluttered shut as he pressed closer and deepened the kiss, reaching up and clinging to Slade’s still armored shoulders just to steady himself. 

Only a second later, Slade brushed against his injured side and abruptly pulled away when Jason involuntarily hissed in pain. Slightly dazed, he blinked at Slade who smirked slightly. “You need to rest,” he unfortunately said, which while true, was not exactly what Jason wanted to do at the moment. Jason was too tired to argue much, so with only a little bit of bitching he laid back on the comfortable bed, already starting to nod off once he actually let go of trying so hard to stay alert. Just before he completely passed out, he felt Slade run his hand through his hair. “I’ll be seeing you again soon, kid,” he heard right before everything went dark.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all for the positive feedback! It seems like you're liking this so far so here's another chapter that is hopefully not terrible


	4. there is no pain

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Slade makes a grand romantic gesture

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And now the chapter you have all been waiting for...

Jason woke up to pain thrumming through his whole body, adding to the short moment of disorientation at waking in a new place before the memories of the night before came rushing back. The first thing he did was check the room for Slade, and didn’t know if he felt disappointed or relieved to find that he was gone. The important thing was that there were painkillers and a bottle of water on the nightstand, and even that small bit of thoughtfulness was enough to put a smile on his face.

Still, he reminded himself to be cautious as he pushed past the pain and stood, carefully wandering through the apartment until he found all of his gear on the kitchen table. He couldn’t help smiling when he saw there were clean, black tac pants and T-shirt that were exactly his size to replace the now bloody and torn clothes. He took his time carefully going through every item to make sure none of them were bugged, pleasantly surprised when he found nothing. 

Remembering Slade’s words before he passed out, Jason was already hoping he’d see him again soon. The idea of _hoping_ to run into Deathstroke would have been laughable a month ago, but holy shit how things had changed. Even without the ludicrous idea, just developing warm feelings and hesitant trust was rare for Jason. 

What really got him was the _why._ Before last night, Slade hadn’t known that he had been Robin, so that wasn’t what got Slade’s attention. It had to have been him as Red Hood, which made him appreciate all of this even more. To have someone take an interest in him, not for his past but for the things he was doing currently, was making him feel some type of way. 

Jason shook off analyzing all of this, deciding to put it off for later. For the moment, he probably needed to go to the cave so the bats knew he was fine. He gathered the rest of his gear, leaving behind the bloody clothes and left the apartment, not really looking forward to the interrogation ahead of him. He hotwired a bike to drive over to where he stashed his own before everything went to shit, glad that it remained in one piece.

When he got to the cave, he was greeted with a hug from Dick and immediately after was steered to the medbay by Tim. “Jesus fucking Christ, let me go I’m fine,” he complained, batting away Dick’s hands. It didn’t take long for the entire family that was currently in Gotham to show up, all slightly hovering in either concern or curiosity.

“Sit down and let me check your wounds,” Alfred told him as soon as the butler walked in, so Jason grudgingly sat down. No one argued with Alfred if they wanted to live. As his stitched up bullet wounds were shown, Bruce frowned deeper than usual, either because he had gotten hurt or because the stitches were perfect. 

“What happened last night? Where did Slade take you? What did he do to-”

“Oh my God, calm down, Dick,” he interrupted, already so sick of the questioning. He didn’t really want to share anything about what happened. Of course, he could understand how the situation would worry all of them, Dick especially, but it was obvious that he was completely fine, his wounds taken care of perfectly and otherwise unharmed. They also definitely weren’t giving him enough credit. Maybe his survival instincts were a bit flawed given the fact that the only people he was ever attracted to were people who were extremely dangerous, but Jason was also just as fucking dangerous. “I got some bad intel and it fucked me, but Slade showed up and saved my ass. He didn’t do anything to me aside from stitch me up and keep me from dying. By now you should all realize he doesn’t want me dead, so chill out.”

They didn’t exactly look happy about that, but none of them pressed. It was left unsaid that being here, in the cave and with the family, was still a new and tenuous thing, and it was both comforting and relieving that they didn’t want to push too far and drive him away. “Let’s just figure out what happened with the bust last night,” Jason finally said when Alfred was finished examining him and the awkward silence was getting way too uncomfortable. Thankfully, they all agreed and spent the next hour breaking down the bad intel and what exactly happened. 

The lighter atmosphere was broken with something none of them could have predicted.

“You’re all gonna want to see this,” Tim said weakly, pulling up the news and shocking the hell out of all of them when the reporter announced that the body of the Joker had been found. The news took his breath away for a moment as they all gaped at the screen in disbelief. They showed a picture of the crime scene, and Jason was frozen when he saw it. The Joker was laying there covered in blood, not an inch of him unscathed, and next to the body was a crowbar and the letters RH written in blood. He couldn’t tear his eyes away from the picture, too many emotions hitting him at once. Two things were circling through all of their heads; Joker was _dead,_ and whoever did it had given Red Hood credit.

Jason knew it went deeper than that. Someone had done this for Jason, and he had an idea of who it might have been. 

“Hood,” Bruce growled once he had apparently gotten out of his own shock, and Jason took a subconscious step back. Alfred’s hand on Bruce’s shoulder stopped him, and this time Dick addressed him.

“Jay, be honest. Did you kill the Joker?”

If his damn name weren’t next to the body and murder weapon, he might be upset at the question. “No,” he answered honestly, and he let them all stare at him to try to figure out if he were being genuine. It lasted an uncomfortably long amount of time where Jason would rather be literally anywhere else, away from the invasiveness and superhuman perceptiveness all bats shared, but eventually they seemed to accept his answer.

“Okay, so who else knows Red Hood is the second Robin? Enough to know the significance of the crowbar?” Tim asked, then froze for a second before deciding to stare at Jason again. “Oh my God, you told Deathstroke,” he accused, and Jason didn’t have an argument prepared for that. 

“I didn’t think he’d do anything with the information!” he argued, then it really hit him and he couldn’t help smiling, ignoring the way it made the others nervous. “I can’t believe he killed Joker for me,” he said, and knew he sounded way too endeared. No one had ever done anything like this for him before, something that he didn’t ask for but was done for him anyways because they knew how much it meant to him. This was fucking earth shattering, and _fuck,_ this was more than just simple attraction, wasn’t it? 

“Jason, this is not something you should be okay with,” Dick said, exasperated. “He _killed someone for you_. Are you not even a little concerned about that?”

The others unsurprisingly seemed to agree. “Deathstroke’s fixation on you has become out of hand,” Bruce said flatly, staring at the screen where the people being interviewed looked pretty damn happy. Jason tried not to look too much into the fact that none of these people he considered family were looking at the Joker’s death like it was a good thing. He knew they all functioned by looking at all new situations from potential problems first before anything else, but would it really hurt to be happy for him for once? “You need to stay here until we know more.”

“Fuck no,” Jason immediately objected, meeting Bruce’s glare with his own. He knew Bruce was coming from a point of concern, but that didn’t mean it didn’t piss him the fuck off. “He doesn’t want me dead, he just put down a monster and boosted my reputation, and did what you couldn’t do for me. You’re not going to find out anything if you keep me locked up, and we all know there’s nothing you can actually do that will keep me here.” 

“Jay, please stay for at least a day,” Dick said, using his ‘concerned big brother’ voice. 

“Nope,” he responded cheerily, feeling really fuckin good for the first time in a long time. There were a lot of things going through his head, but mostly he was relieved, and he knew the others felt similarly but it was being eclipsed by the Slade situation and their own strict morals.

Tim sighed. “You know, most people wouldn’t consider this a grand romantic gesture,” he said flatly while Jason was pulling his gloves and masks on. In the safety of his hood, he grinned wider, because it seemed like that’s exactly what it was. 

“Well, I’m not most people,” he responded elatedly. “This is the best thing that’s happened to me in years, and I’ve got a mercenary to thank,” he added, lazily saluting them as he started his bike. “Follow me and I’ll shoot you!” He shouted as he drove out, and made sure to stop once he was far enough away and get rid of the couple bugs they managed to plant on his shit before continuing his drive.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yay! jokers finally dead!  
> i got in a car accident a couple days ago so sorry if this is Not Great but hopefully you still like it! thanks for all your comments it always makes my day  
> (there will be one or two more chapters before i end this babey)


	5. everyone's a sadomasochist

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things get steamy and Jason has Feelings™

On the streets people were celebrating, and he couldn’t help grinning when people waved at him ecstatically, laughing when he saw fireworks going on somewhere in the city. He didn’t think he was projecting much when he thought that it seemed like a big weight had lifted from the city. 

It took ten minutes for him to get to the safe house Slade had brought him to last time, and he still felt that mix of relieved, elated, and flattered when he knocked on the apartment door. While he waited, he took off his hood so he was just in his domino when Slade finally opened the door, and Jason only spared a glance around to make sure no one else was there before practically throwing himself at the man. He kissed him deeply, stopping when he couldn’t stop his grin. “Please tell me that was you,” Jason said, pulling back to see Slade’s cocky expression. 

“It seemed like something you’d appreciate,” he responded, as if he had gotten him flowers or something instead of killing someone for him. If he ever had any doubts about this thing with Slade, they were completely gone now. Playing the hero and saving his life was definitely surprising and appreciated, but it was something people had done for him before. Vigilantes save each other’s lives often enough for it not to be a big deal, but no one he’d ever met would have thought he was worth killing for. Jason grinned wider and knew he was being painfully obvious about all of his feelings, but didn’t give much of a damn, didn’t even try to hide his emotions like he normally did. “Is Batman going to try to hunt me down?” Slade asked, sharp eye tracking him as he walked further into the apartment and set his hood and jacket on the coffee table. 

“Not sure. They wanted to keep me in the cave for a few days so I’d be out of your reach, but I got the fuck out of there before B or Dick could try.”

“Come here,” Slade said, more of an order than a request, and Jason could very much get on board for that. He crossed the room until he was in front of Slade again, just barely holding back a moan when he reached up and roughly pulled his hair so his throat was bared, already breathless as Slade lightly tapped his domino. He only hesitated for a second, running the pros and cons of being completely maskless and coming up with the conclusion that Slade had definitely figured out his identity and seen his face before. He nodded as much as he could with Slade still holding his head in place, and let him take his domino off, the smug look on Slade’s face as they made eye contact unfairly attractive. Jason didn’t try to hold back the quiet groan this time when Slade leaned down to suck bruises into his neck, hopefully leaving marks that would last a while. When Slade bit down just enough for it to be the enjoyable kind of pain, that was it for him. 

“Let me-” Jason said, sounding more breathless than he would like to, but it was enough for Slade to lean back and look at him with that penetrating gaze. “Slade, I want… fuck, just-” he cut himself off again, figuring Slade got the message when he loosened his grip on his hair enough that Jason could drop to his knees, still keeping heated eye contact. He reached up and paused with his hands on Slade’s belt, asking nonverbally and shivering when the mercenary smirked dangerously. 

“Yeah, sweetheart, make me feel good,” Slade told him, voice taking on a rough edge. The words added to his already dizzying arousal, and he was unbuckling Slade’s belt before he even consciously thought about it, tugging the waist of his pants and underwear down to lean forward and wrap his lips around Slade’s dick. He sucked gently at first, letting his tongue swirl around the head, getting used to the size and weight in his mouth that was driving him more insane than he already was.

Above him, he heard Slade let out a harsh breath and his brain lit up when the hand still in his hair tightened again, feeling the other hand wrap around Jason’s jaw to thumb at the corner of his mouth where it was stretched around his cock, and he couldn’t help the helpless, needy sound he was too far gone to be embarrassed about. “Mm, that’s it, good boy,” Slade praised roughly, drawing another involuntary moan out of his throat as he pressed closer, taking more of his cock into his mouth and starting to bob his head. 

Slade experimentally thrusted shallowly, and Jason was definitely on board. He reached up to put pressure on the hand in his hair, trying to communicate how badly he wants. “You want me to fuck your mouth, sweetheart?” Slade asked, more rhetorical than anything as he started to thrust with purpose. Jason felt a little fuzzy as he went slack, relaxing his jaw and letting Slade use him however he wanted. “You’re mine,” Slade growled, and Jason was surprised at his own reaction to the words, groaning around his cock and relaxing further until Slade’s ramming the back of his throat hard enough that Jason’s voice was gonna be rough for days. He never thought he would be into a possessive partner, but two words and he was putty in his hands. “Unless you tell me to stay away, they can’t keep me from you,” Slade added roughly, and Jason immediately reached up to grasp at his thighs and closed his eyes, head spinning in a fucking amazing way.

Abruptly, Slade tugged his head back until his cock was slipping out of his mouth, and Jason would probably forever deny the protesting, keening sound he made at the sudden loss. He looked up into the mercenary’s eye, shivering when he saw his expression dark and intense. “Stand up,” he ordered, pure heat in his voice. Jason complied as soon as he got his balance again, and inhaled sharply when Slade abruptly lifted him up by his thighs, Jason’s legs instinctually wrapping around his waist and arms clutching his broad (and thankfully armorless) shoulders. The show of strength was hot as fuck, a reminder that Slade was stronger than him, and just as dangerous as Jason was. It probably said a lot that that fact didn’t make him wary or cautious, instead just added to the excitement that he was with someone who could handle him.

He was very supportive of the direction things were going when Slade carried him to the bedroom and laid him out on the bed, not resisting when Jason dragged him down with him. His breath hitched when his hands were immediately held down above his head, wrists held down with one of Slade’s hands while the other one trailed down to hold his hips down. Slade leaned down to start kissing his neck again, definitely leaving marks with how hard he nipped and sucked on his sensitive skin.

“I’m going to mark you up so everyone knows who you belong to,” Slade growled right before he bit down on his shoulder, and Jason couldn’t help the quiet groan as he closed his eyes and tilted his head back more. All of this should definitely scare the shit out of him, the severely possessive sentiments would make him want to run for the hills with any other person. Here, under one of the most dangerous assassins in the world, all he felt was heat and safety, and overwhelming desire. “Open your eyes,” he ordered, and Jason was doing it before he finished the sentence, making heated eye contact with Slade. “Tell me.” He knew he could say no, could tell him to fuck off, and Slade would back off, despite how… fixated he was. 

“Yours,” Jason breathed out, staying exactly where he was. “I’m yours, all yours.”

Slade was on him again immediately, crashing their lips together as he deftly worked with one hand to disable the catches in his armor that would shock him otherwise, shedding his armor off with ease. Every movement was rough and hard, and both the hottest and most romantic moment he’d ever experienced.

Kissing Slade was how Jason’s always wanted kissing to feel, so different than any other hookups he’d had. It’s not that those other people were bad or unenjoyable or anything, but even with how dominating the kiss was, it was a level of intimate that sent sparks through him. He’d never felt this before, this kind of intensity. It was the kind of feeling he didn’t think he’d ever get to share with anyone. It felt like the roll credits kind of passion, overwhelming and encompassing every inch of his mind and body.

Slade finally managed to take his armor and undershirt off and broke the kiss, giving him a dark, seductive look. He tightened his grip on Jason’s wrists before letting go completely. “Keep them there,” he ordered, and Jason had no problem with that. “You have no idea what you do to me,” Slade said, voice deep and hitting Jason hard, as he trailed his hands down his chest, tracing over the scars covering most of his skin. The burst of self consciousness and insecurity was tempered by the obvious desire in Slade’s eye.

“Finding out there was a new, lethal Bat who used guns was intriguing, then your reputation,” Slade paused to trail rough kisses on his collar bones, and Jason couldn’t help the blush rising in his face at the confirmation that the shit he was doing as Red Hood was significant enough to get Deathstroke’s attention. “So strong and dangerous, but you’d let me do anything to you right now, wouldn’t you,” Slade said, every word lighting Jason’s nerves on fire. 

“Slade,” Jason responded, voice low and already completely wrecked. He didn’t know if he wanted Slade to shut the fuck up or never stop talking. He just hoped Slade could keep taking charge, because all of Jason’s brain cells had abandoned him.

He just wanted, something he hadn’t really had in a long time, and never like this. He wasn’t Dick, this life kept his love life strictly to one night stands and couldn’t afford to have anything more, never really desired anything more. But this thing with Slade, all of this… well Jason didn’t really want to call it courting, but that was sort of what this whole thing had been about, wasn’t it? It had him wanting more, wanting everything Slade would be willing to give him, and tonight he couldn’t help losing himself in it in an insane, fucking mind blowing way. 

Slade leaned in close, fire in his eye as he watched Jason’s every reaction. “Okay, Sweetheart,” he said quietly, leaning back in to nip at his ear. “Whatever you want.” It felt like a promise, and Jason finally moved his hands to touch Slade anywhere he could. He pointedly tugged on Slade’s thin t-shirt until he took the fuckin hint and shed the shirt. Jason’s hands explored all the new exposed skin, all the scars and rippling muscles not letting him forget how strong and dangerous the man above him was. 

When Slade finally skillfully tugged both their pants off, and he and Slade both groaned when their cocks brushed against each other smoothly. Slade’s body a revelation against his, Jason felt undone already. Then Slade was grinding down hard and Jason let out a string of curses, too distracted to really pay attention to what language he had slipped into. 

He shook as he roughly scratched Slade’s back, embarrassingly desperate. It was definitely going to leave a mark, was probably hard enough to draw blood, but before he could even get his mind online enough to wonder if that was alright, Slade was groaning and tightening his grip on Jason’s thigh enough to definitely leave bruises, using his free hand to start working over their cocks. 

Their precome helped slick the movements, and Jason couldn’t hold back the noises of pure pleasure as Slade stroked faster and harder. It was just on the good side of painful that just made everything that much better. He could feel his arousal building in his gut, so fucking close to cumming and the almost worshiping look in Slade’s eye was really getting him there. “Slade,” he gasped, throwing his head back and moaned loudly when his hair was pulled with enough force to keep him there. He felt Slade lean in close, hand not slowing at all as he quietly groaned in his ear. 

“That’s it, Sweetheart,” he growled, trailing open mouthed kisses down his neck. “Good boy,” he purred right before biting down on his shoulder, and that was all Jason could take before he came harder than he had maybe ever. His vision whiting at the edges from the powerful orgasm, he was distantly aware of Slade cursing and following closely after, painting Jason’s stomach with both of their releases. They panted into each other’s mouths for a long moment, occasionally closing the short distance to trade sloppy, sated kisses. 

When Slade finally got up to get a washcloth to clean him up with, Jason took a second to reflect. The merc was completely different than he would have thought, but his old views on Deathstroke had only been based on Bruce’s files and his brother’s experiences. This Slade, this obsessive and weirdly sweet assassin nearly twice Jason’s age defied all expectations. What he knew for certain was that he and Slade had something special, and he finally had someone who matched him in every way. 

In the morning Jason woke with Slade still pressed up against him, watching him with a certain softness one wouldn’t expect Deathstroke to be capable of. He smiled into the sleepy good morning kisses, and for the first time in a long time, he was excited to face the new day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the end! hope you liked the story! sorry this was not good at all and probably not worth the wait but i enjoyed writing all of this a lot  
> i'm thinking of making this a series, so let me know if you would like more of this dynamic!   
> thank you all for reading and for all of the support this has gotten, it's been lovely :)


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